Fanciness Lost

While some bird species have evolved extreme forms of ornamentation, others are plain. Take the eye-catching group of tropical tanagers. They're all closely related, and most are a riot of color. Yet one member of the group is strikingly drab. How did this happen?

Explore how we can reconstruct the evolutionary past and test for cases of fanciness lost.

Research by Mason, Shultz, & Burns